Free Republic

A 24-year-old archaeological worker with the Shreveport Cultural Resource Analysts died suddenly from a medical event Monday, July 11, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff’s Office says. It happened in the Kisatchie National Forest-Kisatchie District within the parish. Around 2:15 p.m., multiple law enforcement agents responded to reports that a female hiker was possible suffering from heat exhaustion or a stroke on Forest Service Road #321 Bayou Camp Road off Longleaf Vista in the forest. While first responders were trying to get to the location, two coworkers were performing CPR on the woman until help could arrive. Medical personnel arrived on scene...

ISIS beheads Palmyra antiquities expert in the ancient city where he had worked for 50 years - then hangs his body from a column Islamic State militants have beheaded an antiquities scholar in an ancient Syrian city and hung his body on a column in a main square. The family of Khaled Asaad are said to have been told that the 82-year-old scholar who worked for more than 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra was executed by ISIS yesterday. Mr Asaad had been detained and interrogated for over a month by the ultra-radical Sunni Muslim militants, according to...

Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, reports that several of the country's museums have been attacked by looters taking advantage of the political turmoil in the country. In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, looters stole jewelry from the museum shop and smashed a statue of Tutankhamun and other artifacts. In a Sinai store containing antiquities from the Port Said Museum, "a large group, armed with guns and a truck, entered the store, opened the boxes in the magazine and took the precious objects. Other groups attempted to enter the Coptic Museum, Royal Jewellery Museum, National...

A team of archaeologists led by Stephen Houston has discovered a royal tomb in Guatemala, filled with materials that have been preserved for approximately 1,600 years. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A well-preserved tomb of an ancient Mayan king has been discovered in Guatemala by a team of archaeologists led by Brown University’s Stephen Houston. The tomb is packed with of carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, who may have been sacrificed at the time of the king’s death. The team uncovered the tomb, which dates from about 350 to 400 A.D., beneath the El Diablo pyramid...

A man who shook Barack Obama's hand in Mexico died the next day from symptoms similar to those of swine flu. The White House insisted the President's health was not in any danger, but he was said to be taking the threat of an epidemic 'very seriously'. The President's health advisers were already concerned about his visit south of the border after learning the contagious virus first struck in Mexico City on April 13 - three days before Mr Obama flew in to meet government officials. Their alarm grew after learning that Felipe Solis, an archaeologist

Archaeologists begin historic Stonehenge dig By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 3:38pm BST 31/03/2008 Archaeologists began a historic dig on Monday which they hope will unlock the ancient secrets of Stonehenge once and for all. The researchers started digging a trench to examine the first stones erected at the site – the first excavation at the monument to be given the go-ahead for 44 years. Professors Geoffrey Wainwright (right) and Tim Darvill hope to unlock ancient secrets Samples recovered from the pit will provide material that could allow the team to date the start of work on the landmark...

Archaeologists uncover unique cremation graves By ÄŒTK / Published 20 March 2008 Prostejov, South Moravia, March 19 (CTK) - Czech archaeologists have uncovered unique cremation graves in Prostejov that date back to the Neolithic period of the Linear Pottery culture and that indicate that people believed in human soul's existence 7,000 years ago already, daily Mlada fronta Dnes wrote Wednesday. The graves were uncovered during construction of a new industrial zone on the eastern edge of the town. "This is the first cremation burial site of the Linear-Pottery-culture to be uncovered on Czech soil. Below it there are skeleton graves...

ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO DRILL IN BEXLEY FOR EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT OCCUPATION By 24 Hour Museum Staff 29/02/2008 An illustration of Homo neanderthalensis at Swanscombe, Kent, one of the sites investigated in the AHOB project. © Natural History Museum Archaeologists from Durham University will be returning to a London borough site where a 19th century historian once found flint tools and animal bones. This time, however, the latest sonic drilling equipment will be used to take samples from the earth, for the ongoing Ancient Human Occupation of Britain II project (AHOB). Initial drillings were carried out at Holmscroft Open Space in September...

Archaeologists Discover Roman Fort In Cornwall, England ScienceDaily (Feb. 5, 2008) — University of Exeter archaeologists have discovered a Roman fort in South East Cornwall. Dating back to the first century AD, this is only the third Roman fort ever to have been found in the county. The team believes its location, close to a silver mine, may be significant in shedding light on the history of the Romans in Cornwall. Situated next to St Andrew’s Church, Calstock, the site is on top of a hill in an area known to have been involved with silver mining in medieval times....

Archeologist explains link between bones found in Ethiopia, Texas Lucy's bones on display at Houston museum By Pamela LeBlancAMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFFSaturday, December 22, 2007 One roamed the forests of East Africa 3.2 million years ago. The other lived in Central Texas more than 9,500 years ago. What's the connection between two skeletons found a world apart? That was the question on a recent visit to Houston, where the famous older skeleton is on display. Though not complete, Lucy does have enough pieces, especially skull bones, for scientists to predict her measurements. This model at the Houston Museum of Natural Science shows...

Russian archaeologists find unique mummies in Egypt 21:56 | 27/ 11/ 2007 AL-FAYUM, November 27 (RIA Novosti) - Russian archaeologists have found well-preserved mummies in Egypt dating to the country's Ptolemaic era, the head of the Russian Academy of Science's Egyptology department announced on Tuesday. "Well-preserved mummies of this period are extremely rare," Galina Belova said. The discoveries were made in the Egyptian oasis of Al-Fayum, where several mummies, combining traits of Hellenic and Egyptian traditions, have previously been found. Teams of Russian archaeologists are currently carrying out excavations in Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt, in Alexandria on the...

Archaeologists Challenge Barnard Professor’s Claims Marissa Brostoff | Wed. Oct 17, 2007 Amid charges of mud-slinging, a group of archaeologists turned to dirt-digging — literally — in their fight against a controversial fellow academic. On Monday night, Columbia University’s pro-Israel student group played host to the latest installment in a lecture series aimed, at least partially, at rebutting Nadia Abu El-Haj, whose work has been critical of the traditional narratives of Israeli archeology. Abu El-Haj, an assistant professor of anthropology at Barnard since 2002, first gained notice with her 2001 book “Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning...

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND MYSTERIOUS CARVED STONE AT WHITBY ABBEY By 24 Hour Museum Staff 12/10/2007 An archaeologist with the rare stone at the site at Whitby Abbey. © English Heritage Experts are studying a carved stone recently uncovered on Whitby Abbey Headland in North Yorkshire to see if it represents the first Bronze Age artefact from the site. St Hild founded an abbey on Whitby Headland in 657AD, which is now an important historical site. However, little was known about the site in the Anglo Saxon period in which it was founded until archaeologists carried out clifftop excavations in 2001 and...

In Afghanistan, 900-foot Sleeping Buddha eludes archaeologistsBut researchers are finding and preserving other ancient riches. By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 7, 2007 edition BAMIYAN, AFGHANISTAN - After the Taliban fell, France sent Zemaryalai Tarzi to this Afghan valley on a quest bordering on the mythological. His goal: to find Sleeping Buddha, the reclining sculpture that, at 900 feet long, would be nearly 10 times the size of the Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. He brought the ultimate treasure map – the journal of a 7th- century Chinese pilgrim who...

Archaeologist uncover possible medieval mosque in Sicily The Normans are believed to have built the medieval castle of Salemi. It fell into ruin during the mid-20th century and was closed after a devastating earthquake in 1968. The castle is shown here prior to recent exterior renovations. Photo by Michael Kolb" Earlier this summer, while standing in an archaeological pit adjacent to an ancient hilltop castle in west-central Sicily, Northern Illinois University graduate student Bill Balco could literally reach out and touch the centuries—even the millennia. The dig site, about 7-by-10 meters near the castle entrance, reveals a crossroads of cultures...

Coin discovery thrills archaeologists Archaeologists monitoring some digging by the City of Oslo's waterworks department made a sensational discovery this week.Gunhild Høvik Hansen spotted the special coin while digging herself. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN The discovery was made while archaeologists were monitoring replacement of new waterlines in the oldest part of Oslo. PHOTO: ANNE-STINE JOHNSBRÅTEN The archaeologists have been following excavations done by city workers who are replacing underground water pipes in the oldest part of Oslo, called Gamlebyen. That's the neighbourhood east of today's downtown area where Oslo’s first known settlements were established more than a thousand years ago....

Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail By Nick Pisa in Rome Last Updated: 8:47pm BST 20/06/2007 An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome. The cup - said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper - is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries. Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which...

Archaeologist says Clarke County site may be lost De Soto battleground Thursday, May 24, 2007By CONNIE BAGGETTStaff Reporter A Mobile archaeologist said this week that he believes he has found a site in southern Clarke County that could be the Indian stronghold Mauvilla, where Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto fought a bloody battle in the mid-1500s. If he is correct, he has solved a mystery that for decades left others with false leads and dashed hopes. Andrew Holmes, who works as a archaeological field technician for Barry Vittor and Associates conducting environmental assessments at construction projects, said he used a...

Archaeologists find 3 prehistoric bodies in SE Mexico www.chinaview.cn 2007-04-11 11:39:34 MEXICO CITY, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Mexican archaeologists found remains of two women and a man that can be traced to more than 10,000 years ago in the Mayan area of Tulum, Mexico's National Anthropology and History Institute said in a statement on Tuesday. The remains were being examined by laboratories in Britain, the United States and Mexico, all of which had said the remains were people between 10,000 and 14,500 years ago, said Carmen Rojas, an archaeologist quoted in the statement. "This makes southeastern Mexico one of the...

Walker 'stone tools' weren't made by humans, state archaeologist says By Robert Franklin, Star Tribune Materials found on a hill above Walker, Minn., were not clearly stone tools dating back 13,000 to 14,000 years, the state archaeologist has concluded. Several experienced archaeologists have concluded that "the great majority of the collection was produced by natural processes," State Archaeologist Scott Anfinson said. "There were a few 'maybe' flakes [of stone], and there were clearly no stone tools of obvious human manufacture or use." Nor is it likely that people lived in the "very uninviting environment" of the Late Glacial age in...